A U.S.-based Nigerian, Ayobami Omoniyi, has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison for his involvement in multimillion-dollar wire fraud.

Mr Omoniyi, 26, who was in the United States on a Green Card, was “sentenced for laundering fraud proceeds through an unlicensed money transmitting business,” the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.

On August 19, 2024, Mr Omoniyi pled guilty to the charges, but he was sentenced to serve 32 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen on Tuesday.

The judge also ordered Mr Omoniyi to pay $202,273.80 in restitution, and he would be “removed” from the U.S. upon serving his jail term.

During Mr Omoniyi’s trial, the court heard that he had been committing crimes since arriving in the United States and that he had been a recruiter for the scheme.

According to the DoJ, in 2021, Mr Omoniyi and others operated an unlicensed money transmitting business that received and transferred funds from business email compromise victims, including a fishing company in Australia.

“Victims received spoofed emails that appeared to come from legitimate businesses and were tricked into sending payments to accounts conspirators controlled,” the DoJ said.

In Mr Omoniyi’s plea, he admitted he moved money through multiple bank accounts as part of his plea. The funds originated from fraudsters involved in a business email compromise wire fraud scheme.

Mr Omoniyi also acknowledged receiving victims’ funds and, for a fee, transmitting the fraud proceeds to others.